Means of parking cars in garages



Patented Feb. 21, 1933 HOLEIAN K. "WHEELER, OF NEWTON CENTER ICAL TRANSFER CAR CORPORATION, 035

TION F VERMONT MEANS OF EARRING CARS. IN GARAGES Application filed November 26, 1928. SerialN'o. 322,024.

The present invention relates to a means and method for storing vehicles, particularly motor vehicles and the like, which, while able to move back and forward and turn, are nevertheless restricted in their lateral motion.

This difiiculty of moving a motor vehicle laterally makes it necessary for the ordinary garage to have considerably more floor space than what would be covered by the maximum car capacity to allow room for maneuvering the cars. As a rule in most garages motor vehicles are parked side by side, instead of one behind the other, since this first manner of parking makes it easier for the operator to drive the car in and out. However the drive in front of the parking stalls in such a system must be about two car lengths Wide to provide enough room for coming in and going out without great trouble. Where space is valuable this means a considerable cost without additional car capacity and there is an added financial burden to the garage keeper. The additional cost is not the only big factor.

The public garage is usually busier at certain times of the day than at others and often at the busy times the cars cannot be put in their places fast enough without delaying the other cars being driven in or the cars can not be driven out quickly enough to prevent a de lay of those wishing to go out. Then again some drivers are not as capable of driving their cars quickly in the proper space as others and often cause thereby considerable delay.

By my present invention these difficulties are entirely overcome. An operator need not be a skilled driver. He need make no turns at all, nor does he need to back the car up. urther the cars may be parked either side wise or one behind the other, equally with ease, and using a maximum of space. Also it is possible to empty the garage of cars without delay. Besides this there is no possibility of one car bumping another or scratching one another as the cars are always rcpt apart by means of my system. In addition it is possible to use practically the entire space in a garage for parking cars. The

entrance may be the usually small entrance thus saving the front on the street for store space. In parking the cars in my system it is possible also to allow easy access to the car instead of compelling the individual to force his way between the cars to get in.

Other merits in the invention. and the manner of its application under various conditions will appear from the description below and from the drawing, which: I

Figure 1 shows a sectional layout applied under the ground beneath the street and Figure 2 shows a plan of the layout in Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 2 the invention is shown applied to an underground system to take the vehicles oil the road and provide an additional drive.

The drive in 120 is one way, and, at an incline with the road, and may be either of one car or two car widths. On either side of the road are stalls and a walk 121 on the outer side. Each stall is numbered and the numbers may be indicated above ground at various entrances as shown in Figure 1 at the top of the entrance building 122 by the sign 123. Where the car drive within the tunnel is two cars wide as should be the case even if the entrance is only one car wide, cars may be taken out or put in stalls on both sides at once without holding up tratfic through the drive so that the drive may also be used for traffic. It is only necessary to insure a clear way throughout to see that no two opposite cars are being driven out or in at the same time. A walk is provided the outer side so that no pedestrian need be on the drive thus insuring safety. As in other cases each stall is provided with a transfer car which is operated in the usual manner. The underground system above described will take the parking oil the streets, insure an efiicient parking space and can be eificiently operated without blocking traffic in the least. Since the drive is a one way drive, the exit is provided at the opposite end of the entrance.

lVheels are set perpendicularly to the parking row so that the car may be moved out laterally to give afreepath. This may be done either manually or by power if desired.

The car positioned at 2 shows the so-called transfer car in the drive ready to receive the motor vehicle and deposit it in its parking space.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A system for efficiently parking cars, comprising a roadway, an underpass beneath said roadway having a central open drive and parking spaces on each side thereof, said drive having a width substantially equal to the width of the total parking space on both sides of said drive, a row of transfer cars positioned normally in said parking space, and a foot-path allowing access to said cars on the outer side of said parking space.

2. A system for efficiently parking cars comprising roadway, an underpass beneath said roadway having a central open drive and parking spaces on each side thereof, a row of transfer cars positionedv normally in said parking space, said drive having a width not less than the width of the total parking space 011 both sides of said drive and a foot path allowing access to said cars on the outer side of said parking space.

HOLMAN K. WHEELER. 

